LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers subjected Stephen Curry to traps in order to defend the pick-and-roll offense, with two defenders often hounding the Warriors' leading scorer.

But the Warriors countered that strategy, sending a big man to be Curry's outlet and often creating two-on-one advantages that led to dunks in Golden State's 109-105 upset victory in Game 1.

According to the Warriors' Andre Iguodala, the credit for that strategy goes to one of the last men off the bench in Hilton Armstrong. Given an opportunity to play in Wednesday's meaningless finale against Denver, Armstrong put the idea into practice and found success.

"You always hear about somebody having a great speech saying no matter who you are, whether you're playing or not playing, you can make a difference. It's like, 'Yeah, right,' " Iguodala said.

"But in that instance, it's true. It might take a guy from the D League. You never know. You can come up, get an opportunity, you might show something you never knew you had, and it might help us get to the next level."

Curry finished with 14 points against the Clippers, indicating he invited the trap to happen so he had opportunities to pass out of it to the open man. Warriors coach Mark Jackson credited Curry's patience, whereas Clippers coach Doc Rivers blamed his team's execution.

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"I thought we were late on a lot of the rotations after (doubling Curry), so it's funny," Rivers said. "Curry didn't score on some of those, but their team still scored. And I thought that was on us more than them, and so we have to correct that."

Iguodala and the Clippers' Blake Griffin each was whistled for his fifth foul in the third quarter and eventually fouled out. Clippers point guard Chris Paul's fourth personal with 5:10 left in the third forced him to sit as the Warriors went on to make a run.

Rivers said he thought the history between the two teams affected the officiating.

"I thought all the hype absolutely had an impact on how the game was called," Rivers said. There's no doubt about that. A lot of tight, touch fouls."

Said Iguodala, "It's frustrating because you know you put in so much work for these moments, and to have a few things not go your way and you know you're not wrong, it can be tough."

Griffin threw up his arms in frustration after watching the replay of his sixth foul and in doing so splashed a man in a Warriors shirt in the front row with a cup of water.